Ride With Me
by pirate4life-stl
Summary: What if on the night John Dillinger was gunned down he didn't actually die? Instead, he wakes up in the year 2009 not really knowing what's going on why he's here? Thankfully, a young girl of the times steps him to help him along the way.
1. Chapter 1

This story's rated T for now, but it might end up being M for violence and language in later chapters.

**Disclaimer:** It helps to have already seen Public Enemies before reading this story. I do not own John Dillinger, Public Enemies, or any of the other references in this story. Allison Parker along with a few other characters are my own, and once again I'm not asking for any money out of this. This for just pure entertainment.

**Biograph Theater, Chicago – July 22, 1934**

Just outside of the movie theater late one summer evening, a frantic crowd gathered around a moment that would change the course of history. There in the middle of the street laid the body of Public Enemy #1 himself: John Dillinger. The FBI was waiting for him outside of the theater before they finally gunned him down just moments earlier. As Dillinger laid face down on the concrete with multiple gunshot wounds, his breath kept getting shorter and shorter while his heart gradually started slowing down.

He knew that this was it. His time had finally come, but all he could think about at that moment was his dear Billie and what was going to happen to her. She was his everything, and he knew that if he were to go before she got out of prison, she would be lost in that big bad world once again with nowhere or no one to turn to. In a sense, the mere thought of that killed him quicker than the bullets that had penetrated his skin.

Soon, his heart was barely beating while his breathing was teetering on the edge of stopping. The screaming crowds and cars that were once loud enough to wake the entire Northern Hemisphere was not a faint whisper in the distance. Amongst all that he heard a voice that stuck out just enough for him to hear.

"Johnny," the voice was calm yet somewhat stern. He wanted to respond or at least look to see who was addressing him, but alas all he could get out were a few barely audible mumbles.

"It is not yet your time. Tomorrow you will wake up. Here in this city, by this theater. There will be no crowds, no police. You wounds will be healed, but it will be a brand new era. A lot will have changed by the time you awake. Good luck Johnny." Soon, all that was left of the mysterious voice was an echo slowly blending into the sounds of the streets. Just moment later, though he could hardly see or hear anything for that matter, he could sense that somebody was close.

There was no turning back now. He had one last thing on his mind before he was to go. Perhaps whoever this person standing near him could hear it, and so with whatever little strength he had left in him he mumbled, "Bye Bye Blackbird." And within moments his heart finally gave out. He was on the other side, off to a better place. At least that's what he believed.

**Interstate 90, Chicago – July 23, 2009**

_God damn it!_ Allison Parker thought to herself tapping her fingers against the steering wheel to "My Sharona", as the song blared from the iPhone connected to the car stereo. She kept her eyes on the traffic, but as far as she knew it wasn't going anywhere. As soon as her lane would start moving again, she'd let out a sigh of relief before eagerly stepping on the gas only to slam on the brakes again after traveling a good three feet. Knowing that she was probably going to be repeating this action multiple times she started singing along to her iPhone in hopes that it would pass the time.

_Ooh my little pretty one, pretty one._

_When you gonna give me some time, Sharona?_

_Ooh you make my motor run, my motor run._

_Gun it comin' off of the line, Sharona._

This was certainly not the first time Parker found herself in this kind of situation. At the tender age of eighteen with a high school diploma and the title of valedictorian under her belt, Parker wanted so desperately to leave this Godforsaken city and start a new life in college, but just when she was ready to spread her wings, she was pulled right back in, as if she was a yo-yo that was ready to perform an around the world trick. Now, instead to starting her freshman year at UC-Santa Barbara as a U.S. History major like she wanted, she was set to do so at nearby Northwestern just like her parents, teachers, and pretty much everyone else around her wanted. She was lucky enough to visit the UC-Santa Barbara campus once before to see a friend who was a student there, and immediately she knew that this was the place for her. She loved the soft white sand beaches that cradled the cool Pacific and the laid-back attitude of the surrounding neighborhoods. Knowing the stresses that she would soon face in college, she felt that this was the perfect place to counterbalance all that.

_Not good enough,_ was the thought that rang through her parents' minds. In their little world Santa Barbara was not the place for a girl of her stature: straight-A student, all AP classes, student body president, editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, National Honor Society chapter president, captain of the girl's track and cross-country teams, 2320 SAT score, not to mention National Merit Scholarship winner. A girl with this many credentials, according to her parents, was not meant to go to such a mediocre school, even if she was offered a full scholarship. She was to attend a much more prestigious institution, where she was guaranteed to walk out a woman ready to conquer the world. That was the reason why Mr. and Mrs. Parker decided that their daughter was to attend Northwestern University. It provided all of that, plus the fact that she would be close to her home, giving them the extra guarantee that she would be safe and sound in her college experience.

_Never gonna stop. Give it up._

_Such a dirty mind._

_Always get it up for the touch_

_Of the younger kind._

_My, my, my, aye, yi, WHOO!_

_M M M My Sharona._

She left the house at 7:30 that morning, thinking that for once it would only take her 20 minutes to reach downtown Chicago. Unfortunately, many other people had the same idea, and now the highway traffic was worse than ever. She continued to sing along to the generous mix of songs on her iPhone as she putted through traffic for another two hours before finally reaching the concrete jungle she had come to know and love.

Despite living here all her life, Parker always sought comfort in the hustle and bustle of Downtown Chicago. The larger-than-life buildings that seem to go on forever provided her shelter from the rest of the big bad world, while the infinite amount of strangers that continued to roam the land day after day allowed her to disappear from those who knew her all too well. It was here that she truly be herself without the harsh criticism of those who expected so much from her. She could make one little mistake of any kind, and still walk out with her pride intact since nobody here had any real reason to know who she was, though the few that knew her would certainly beg to differ. She loved coming here, and in some cases almost wished that she could just live out here, away from her friends and family, and be the woman she wanted to be without much criticism.

She managed to find a parking space in a public parking garage a few blocks away from the Magnificent Mile where she came for a day of shopping. She was alone in the crowd of shoppers and drivers, which was just the way she liked it. It allowed her to visit any store she wanted, and to be as picky as she could when it came to buying more pieces to expand her wardrobe. It took her nearly four hours just to walk up and down North Michigan Avenue, stopping at nearly every store that caught her eye. Though she ended up only buying a few tops from Express, a couple pairs of jeans from The Gap, and some books from the Notre Dame Bookstore, for Parker it was enough to consider it a successful shopping trip.

Afterwards, she came back to the parking garage to put her bags in her car. After finding her cherry red Corolla in a sea of dark-colored vehicles, she threw everything in the trunk, and locked it up. Just then a grainy version of the song "Blue Collar Man" rang from the green oversized handbag hanging off her delicate little shoulder, echoing across the . She fumbled through her bag until she took out her iPhone and saw that it was her mom on the other line.

"Hey Mom," she answered in a sweet tone.

"Allison," her mom said using a tone stern enough to show authority over her. "Where are you?"

"I'm out near North Michigan Mom. I just got done shopping." Upon hearing that her mom let out a sigh of both frustration and relief now that she knew where her daughter was.

"Honey, you know how your father and I get when you go out there by yourself."

"I know," She rolled her eyes as she let her other arm hang out of annoyance, allowing the handbag to slide off her shoulder before she caught it with the same hand. "I'm fine though. Nothing bad happened while I was out."

"Well that's good to know."

"Yeah…um, I think I'm gonna go ahead and get some lunch before I head home this afternoon. Is that okay?"

"Where are you thinking of going?"

"That little place out on North Lincoln just across the street from the Biograph Theater." After a moment of silence on the other line her mother sighed and spoke up.

"Alright, but you come right home afterwards. Okay?"

"Fine," and with that she hung up and threw her phone back in the bag before digging her keys out and stepping into the driver's seat, only to peel out just moments later.

After weaving through even more traffic, Parker managed to parallel park between a white Prius and a blue Focus next to a parking meter several feet away from the Biograph Theater. Not really knowing how long she'd be in the restaurant, she got out and put enough money in the machine for two and a half hours. Just as she did this she looked up and noticed a man lying right in the middle of the sidewalk as if he just passed out right there. While it was not uncommon for her to see such a thing in the streets of Chicago, it was the way he was dressed that made him stand out. He had on light-colored khaki pants that seemed to be a little high-waisted by today's standards along with a pale blue button down shirt and a woven hat that seemed to resemble some sort of fedora pushed back on his head. It was as if these light colors against the otherwise mute surroundings were just begging to give this guy some attention.

Always the one to help someone in need, Parker walked over and squatted down to get a better look at his face which was hiding behind a pair round-framed dark glasses. She leaned in a little closer and saw that he was just barely breathing, and then took his wrist to find that he had a pulse. A little irregular, but a pulse nonetheless. Suddenly the man started moving his head a little as if he was trying to wake up from a deep sleep.

"Sir?" she asked with much concern in her voice as the man slowly but surely got up from where he laid and took a look around, squinting his eyes from the bright July sun despite wearing his sunglasses.

"W…what…where am I?" the man managed to mumble in a somewhat raspy tone as he looked over to see a young girl by his side.

"You're still in Chicago Sir. You must've passed out or something."

"I did?"

"I don't know. I was just minding my own business until I saw you laying here in the middle of the sidewalk."

"Okay, well uh…thank you." The man rubbed his eyes a little and looked around to see the theater from the night before still in good condition along with a few surrounding buildings, but he also noticed a few changes in his surroundings. For one thing the cars that continued to speed left and right down North Lincoln. Not only were there more of them, but much different in appearance from what he remembered. They came in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and even colors, much different from the black beauties he was used to. He noticed that even the people that continued to pass by were quite different. No longer were the men wearing hats or the women in skirts and dresses, although there were a few on the street that did. It seemed as though the people around him were wearing enough clothing to cover maybe a little less than half their bodies. Even the girl trying to help him seemed scantily clad in her denim shorts and white snug-fitting Rolling Stones t-shirt, but at the same time he couldn't really blame her or the others for their choice of clothing. He certainly felt like he was melting with the way he was dressed in the July heat.

"C'mon," she said as she grabbed his hand and tried to help him up. The man struggled a bit, but managed to get back on his own two feet. "Let's get you to a hotel or and let you rest a bit. I'm sure that concrete's not too comfortable."

"Yeah, sounds good." He hung on to the girl's hand as he followed her to the passenger side of her car before she opened the door and let him get settled in. Parker knew that this wouldn't look too good in her parents' eyes, but she had a plan. So she took her iPhone out and called her best friend Kelsey.

"Hello," said a girl on the other side.

"Hey Kelsey. Listen, could you do me a big, big favor?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Can you cover for me today? If for some reason my mom decides to call you could you tell her that I'm at your house?"

"Uh sure, why?"

"Well, it's kinda hard for me to explain right now. I'll tell you about it tomorrow, okay?"

"No problem."

"Oh, thank you so, so much. You're such a great friend."

"Uh, it's no problem…I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you then. Bye"

"Bye." Parker hung up on Kelsey and then called her mom.

"Hello," her mom said over the phone.

"Hey Mom. There's been a change of plans."

"What now Allison?"

"I just ran into Kelsey a few minutes ago, and she wants me to come to her house for a bit. Hope you don't mind."

"That's fine, just be careful."

"Thanks Mom. Love ya." She quickly hung up and threw the phone back in her bag before getting back into her car and squeezing her way out of the parking spot to head out to a nearby hotel.


	2. Chapter 2

It was already eight in the evening when Dillinger finally woke up from a long sleep in a rather unfamiliar place. He could tell he was in some kind of hotel, but it certainly wasn't like any place he'd been in before. Still buried under the covers, he stretched out on the bed before sitting up to look around at his new surroundings. He looked over and saw that same girl from earlier sitting back on a large brown armchair against the wall reading a book.

"Oh," Parker said as she looked up from her book. "You're awake already?"

"Yeah," he said looking around once more. "Where am I?"

"Well, right now we're staying at a motel not too far from my house. I didn't wanna take you back to my place because I knew my parents wouldn't be too happy about that."

"Alright." He rubbed his eyes once more to get the sleep out of them.

"If you need to freshen up, there's some soaps and shampoos in the bathroom over there," she pointed toward the bathroom on the other side of his bed, "along with a first aid kit and essentials kit I got you over at the front desk."

"Wow, thanks." He got up and staggered over to the bathroom. He turned to faucet on and cupped his hands into a bowl-like form to hold under the running water to form a small pool of water in his hands. He then took the pool of water and allowed the ice cold liquid spatter across his tired face. Finally relieved from his rather deep slumber, he looked over towards the bathroom door in the direction where the girl was, and couldn't help but wonder why she was doing all this for him? Obviously he'd never met this girl before, and neither did she with him, and yet for some reason she was more than willing to take some time out of her day to tend to his aid. Under such circumstances he was certainly grateful for what she did, and had to find some way to pay her back for whatever troubles he may have laid upon her.

After ten minutes of renewal Dillinger returned to the main part of the room to see that the girl had since returned to her reading. He sat down on the other side of the bed facing her as she closed her book and looked up.

"You shaved your moustache?" she asked innocently noticing a cleaner, smoother face.

"Yeah, I kind of needed to," he said as he buried his face in his hands once more before bringing it back up to meet her eyes. "Thank you so much once again for everything. How could I ever repay you?"

"You don't have to. I just wanted to help."

"I understand, but there's got to be something I could do for you. Anything?"

"No, no. I don't need anything. Thank you though."

"Well, can I at least get your name? I mean, an angel like you has got to have a name."

"Oh…okay" Parker blushed a little at the compliment this strange handsome man had just given her. Both got up from where they were sitting for a more proper greeting. "Allison Parker." She extended her hand for a simple shake.

"John Dillinger." He took her hand as if she was a lady of high society and kissed it. Parker blushed once more as a sense of surprise came to her face upon hearing his name.

"Really?" She quickly released her hand and let it drop. "Dillinger, as in the famous bank robber?"

"That would be me."

"Wow." She shook her head in disbelief. Being a girl who's always had an infatuation with famous criminals in history, she'd always admired John Dillinger for what he did during the Depression, and never thought in a million she'd meet someone that shared the same name as him. "Kinda weird that you're parents named you after the most notorious bank robber in American history." As soon as she said this, Dillinger scrunched his eyebrows in a moment of confusion.

"What do mean?"

"Well, he was considered Public Enemy #1 way back when, and yet people all across America loved him for what he did. Pretty ironic don't you think?"

"Way back when?" He became even more confused, not what she knew about him, but from the way she said. She was talking about him like he was some man from centuries before. "It wasn't that long ago."

"Yeah it was." Parker tilted her head slightly looking at him like he was from another planet. "Where have you been?"

"Ally," he wasn't sure if she would mind the nickname he gave her, but it didn't really matter at this point. He then took a deep breath in hopes of clearing things up. "That was me. I was the one the FBI was after. I really am John Dillinger." At that point, Parker began to wonder if this man belonged to an insane asylum. In her mind, there was absolutely no way that this man could possibly be _the_ John Dillinger.

"Alright, now you're just trying to fuck with me." She shook her head and grabbed her book and purse before stamping towards the door.

"Where're you going Ally?" Dillinger turned to face her once more.

"Don't you Ally me, Mister," Parker said angrily as she stopped and spun around on her heels to face him. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, but I'm not gonna have any of it. I find you on the street, and tried to be nice here by paying for a decent hotel room for you to recuperate in, and now you try and throw all this bullshit on me. Saying you're John Dillinger and everything. Well guess what, I'm not stupid, and if you think you can try and fool me again, you got another thing comin'." She turned around once more and walked out of the room before slamming the door behind her. Moments later she opened it again and stuck her head in the small crack.

"By the way," she said. "Check out's at 11 tomorrow, and everything's already paid for. You're welcome." She moved her head out of the way and slammed the door once more before storming down the hall. Needless to say, Dillinger was quite stunned at her behavior. He wasn't sure if he wanted to run back and either apologize to Parker or try to explain to her that he was in fact who he said he was. Still a little woozy from all that had just happened, he laid back down on the bed with the sheets underneath him and just stared at the ceiling before drifting off to sleep once more.

Within the next hour Parker weaved through even more traffic before finally pulling into the driveway of her family's two story suburban home. It was a home her parents were certainly proud of, but as far as she knew there was nothing too spectacular about it. One look around the neighborhood and it was plain to see that it was just another one of those little boxes much like the ones in that song by Malvina Reynolds. She got out of her car and walked towards the well-lit porch, all the while making sure nothing in any of the bags she was carrying fell out. She unlocked the door and slowly made her way into the living room before her mother stopped her with one simple statement.

"Been out for quite awhile," her mother stated while sitting back on the couch reading a Danielle Steel novel. "What all'd you do at Kelsey's?"

"We just watched some movies Mom, no big deal," Parker replied. "Where's Dad?"

"Working a little overtime. You know one semester at NU's not cheap."

"Well aware of that." Parker tried to get away from her mother by heading upstairs towards her bedroom before being interrupted once again.

"Hey, I was just trying to talk to you dear. You know your father's working his tail off to try and pay for college for you, and of course you're never in the house any longer than five minutes. I just wanna have some more family time if that's a problem."

"It's no problem Mom. It's just I've had quite a long day and I just wanna go to bed. I have to work tomorrow anyway."

"I'm sorry sweetie. Well, good night. I love you."

"Love you too," and with that Parker went up to her bedroom for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Parker was already in her PJs by the time she slipped under the covers and looked over at the movie poster facing her bed on the other side of the room. It was one of Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in Public Enemies, a film she along with a few friends were fortunate enough to see during the big Chicago premiere a month earlier.

As she stared at this poster of him and that sly smirk of his she immediately thought of that strange man she helped out earlier that afternoon. Not so much for the name, but for the striking resemblance between him and the man in the movie poster. He had short dark hair that seemed to fall around his forehead. He also had these sharp, angular cheekbones, one of which was accented with a scar on his right cheek that ran just underneath it. On top of that he had these big coffee-colored eyes that seemed to hypnotize her in a strange way.

There was no question on her mind that this man was quite handsome, but that didn't necessarily make her believe that he was in fact who he said he was. With these thoughts still fresh in her mind, Parker got out of bed and walked over to her bookshelf and pulled out a book on John Dillinger that featured a picture of the man himself on the cover. She took one look at the cover and furrowed her eyebrows in utter confusion. She looked over at the poster once more before looking back at the book cover, only to realize that the faces on both the book and the cover were very much the same. The same dark eyes, the same lazy smirk, the same everything. An image of the man she met earlier popped into her head as she kept looking back and forth between the poster and the book before finally reaching a conclusion.

"You son of a bitch," she said to herself as she put the book away and slowly but surely turned to go back to bed. To say that she couldn't believe that this man was perhaps telling the truth would be an understatement. She was baffled, terrified even, to think that the same guy that laid passed out by the theater earlier that day could in fact be the original Public Enemy #1. As shocked as she was to know this, she also felt a little bit of guilt for snapping at him and eventually walking out on him when he reaffirmed that he was in fact John Dillinger. If she'd have known this earlier, she would've stayed back at the hotel for the night, no question about it. So what if her parents wouldn't approve? Screw them, she thought. I'm going with Dillinger. The only problem of course being whether or not she was to see this handsome Depression-era man again. After all, the only thing she really told him about her was her name. There was no way of him knowing where she lived or what she did in her daily life. This of course only made her guilt grow stronger.

She curled up back into bed, with such heavy feelings still lying in the pit of her stomach, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

* * *

Dillinger woke up the next morning, and of course the first thing that came to mind was that girl Parker. He looked around the room just to see if she came back at some point while he was asleep. No such luck. Determined to find her, he scrambled out of bed, still wearing the same clothes as the day before, grabbed his hat and sunglasses which were lying on the nightstand by the bed, and hurried down the hallway and into a crowded elevator that went down to the lobby.

As the numbers on top of the elevator door got smaller, he took a look at some of the people the surrounded him. On his left there was a woman in shorts and a pink tank top with a small blonde child sitting on her hip. Behind her were a couple of young children, a boy and a girl. The girl had light brown hair and blue eyes similar to the woman standing next to him and was carrying a stuffed Minnie Mouse doll dressed as a ballerina. The boy standing next to her also had similar blue eyes, but his hair was blonde like that of the toddler sitting on her mom's hip. While the boy was busy playing with his Nintendo DS, the girl kept staring at Dillinger with big bright eyes before opening her small mouth to speak.

"Hey mister," she said innocently enough. Dillinger looked down to see what the little girl wanted. "Why are you dressed like an old guy? You're not old."

"Suzie," the woman yelled as she turned to face the little girl while still hanging on to the toddler on her hip. "That wasn't very nice. Now what do you say to gentleman?"

"I'm sorry," she pouted while clutching her Minnie Mouse doll.

"Oh it's okay," Dillinger said with a small smile and gently patted the little girl's shoulder. "No harm done."

Just then the elevator doors opened, and everyone stepped out into the busy lobby. Hoping to blend in just a little after taking a look at everyone around him, Dillinger rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and unbuttoned a few top buttons on his shirt before approaching the young guy behind the front desk.

"Hi there," Dillinger said. "Checking out."

"Alright sir," the young man said as he tapped a few keys on the computer. "Name?"

"Um...Parker I believe."

"Let's see. Parker, Parker..." The young man stared at the computer with concentration for a bit before finally making eye contact with Dillinger. "First name Allison?"

"Yes sir."

"Looks like everything's paid for...You know this girl's actually a pretty good friend of mine." Upon hearing that Dillinger perked up. To him this was another lucky chance to try and find that girl.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we went to the same high school. She and I both worked on the school paper."

"I see. What else?"

"Well uh, I know she's about to start her freshman year of college up at Northwestern and as of now she's taken a summer job at Gino's East."

"Where's that?"

"Um, out of North Wells. Right across the street from Ed Debevic's." The young guy looked at him with much confusion. Dillinger was now a little confused himself. He'd never heard of these places, thought he knew exactly what street this kid was talking about. As confused as he was, he certainly didn't show in his face. In fact, the look on his face suggested intimidation rather than confusion to this young man.

"Alright then," Dillinger stepped back while the young man just stood there awkwardly. "You have a nice day now Buddy."

"You too sir."

As soon as Dillinger stepped into the bright sunlight he squinted a little as he put his sunglasses back on before catching a cab conveniently parked in front of the hotel. He opened the door and slid on in to face a rather large, rough-looking man of about 50 or so for a driver.

"Where to?" the driver asked in a thick accent that seemed to come someplace like Brooklyn rather than Chicago.

"Gino's East. North Wells."

The driver looked up at Dillinger through the rearview mirror before peeling out into traffic.

"Y'know something," the bus driver said in a curious tone. "You look a little bit like that Johnny Depp in that new movie of his. Y'know the one where he plays, uh, John Dillinger."

"So I'm told," Dillinger said in a very confident tone. Needless to say, that lead to a very interesting conversation between the two of them on the way to Gino's East.


	4. Chapter 4

The cab pulled up in front of the main entrance of Gino's East and Dillinger stepped out with a very confident stride before turning to the driver's open window. He looked at the driver who was staring out the windshield with a pretty stunned look on his face before turning to Dillinger who gave a lazy smirk in return.

"I'm sorry," the driver said shaking his head. "I...I'm just at a lost for words. I mean I thought I knew everything there is to know about him-I mean you until you started talking. Geez..."

"Well it was nice having this conversation with you," Dillinger said as he got out his wallet and took out a few bills to pay the fare before the driver stopped him.

"Please...this one's on me."

"Okay then, you have a good day."

"You too Johnny," and with that the driver sped off and Dillinger looked up at the building that stood before him. This was certainly not like any place he'd ever been to before based on these giant, flat, oar-shaped red and green pillars lining the front part of the building that seemed form a zig zag kind of pattern. Just on top laid a green checkerboard sign that bared the restaurant's name. He walked in and was quite surprised to see the shape the interior of the place was in. Although it looked and seemed to operate very much like any other pizza parlor the walls that surrounded it were covered in all sorts of paints and scribblings, almost as if the place had been vandalized at one point and no one cared to clean it up. What he didn't realize though was that all the "graffiti" on the walls was just part of the decor and that people throughout the restaurant that afternoon were scribbling down new things with knives and Sharpies, literally making their mark on the legendary restaurant. He then approached a young girl in jeans and a red polo with the restaurant's name on it working behind the host's area.

"Hi, welcome to Gino's East," the young lady said with perky smile. "Table for one?"

"No um, actually I'm looking for an Allison Parker. Is she here?"

"Yes, but she's kinda busy right now. Why?" Just then, Dillinger spotted Parker in a uniform similar to what the hostess was wearing serving two heaping deep dish pizzas to a large party near the back of the restaurant. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail which allowed him to immediately see and recognize her face.

"Excuse me." He walked right past the hostess and quickly approached Parker, who was in the middle of serving the pizza when she looked up and saw him with much surprise.

"You!" she said pointing at him.

"You ran out on me."

"Yeah I know did, and for that I'm sorry."

"Why'd you do it?" As soon as Dillinger said this Parker took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Because I was scared okay. I really didn't know who you were, and...I was just afraid you were gonna hurt me is all."

"Well let's make one thing clear. NEVER will I hurt in anyway."

"That's good to know."

"Hey miss," a husky man sitting near Parker said. "I didn't get my food yet."

"Just one minute," Parker said to the man before turning to Dillinger once more. "Again I'm very sorry for walking out on you."

"In that case you're gonna have to swear to me that you'll never ever do that again."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm waitin'"

"Uh..."

"Hey, I'm waiting here too," the man sitting at the table said.

"I'm never gonna run out on you ever again. Say the words."

"Why?"

"Well I ain't never gonna run out on you and that's a promise."

"Well that's nice and all but where my food?" the man at the table shouted before Dillinger smacked the guy upside the head and then walked around Parker and took a small plate off a stack of them on the tray holding the pizzas. He grabbed a slice out of one of the deep dishes and put it on the small plate before slamming down in front of the man at the table.

"Eat up Big Boy," Dillinger said before turning back to Parker.

"What the hell was that for?" she asked in a very confused tone.

"Because you're with me now. Your days of waiting tables are over."

"Since when?"

"Since you found me lying out in the middle of the street and brought me to a hotel to recuperate. So now today you're gonna quit this little job of yours and I'm gonna take you out to dinner tonight. Is that clear?"

At this point Parker was speechless. He certainly made a point about him taking her out as a way to return the favor, but she wasn't so sure about quitting the one job she needed to help pay for college. She turned to a woman sitting at the table she was serving earlier who just shrugged and said, "I would. I mean look at him." Parker then turned back to Dillinger and reluctantly nodded.

"Give me ten minutes," she said as she turned towards the kitchen area.


End file.
